The Chinese Government has made efforts in promoting economic, cultural and educational progress in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities and paid special attention to respecting their religious beliefs and protecting their cultural heritage. The cultural heritage and folk arts of all ethnic groups, including their religious culture, have been surveyed, collected, studied, collated, edited and published. The state has allocated huge amounts of funds to maintain temples and other religious facilities of historic and cultural significance in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities.

In the Tibet Autonomous Region, most locals believe in Tibetan Buddhism. There are more than 1,700 sites for Buddhist activities in Tibet, with 46,000 monks and nuns. Believers have set up a small sutra hall or niche in their homes, and every year over a million people make pilgrimages to Lhasa.

Since the 1980s, the Central Government has allocated more than 200 million yuan of special funds to Tibet for maintaining and renovating the Potala Palace and Jokhang, Tashilungpo and Samye monasteries. The state has also allocated special funds to support Buddhist circles in compiling and publishing important Tibetan Buddhist classics such as the Tripitaka. The Senior Tibetan Buddhist College of China in Beijing and the Tibet Buddhist Theological Institute in Lhasa are also sponsored with state aid.

The Chinese Government respects and protects the freedom of religious belief and customs of Muslims. Related government departments have provided various services for the pilgrimage to Mecca, which are applauded by the Muslim community. Over the past 10 years, more than 50,000 Chinese Muslims have made the pilgrimage safely and smoothly through charter flights arranged by the Islamic Association of China. In the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, there are 23,000 mosques with 29,000 religious professionals, satisfying the religious needs of Muslims.

Five Chinese citizens died in their pilgrimage in Mecca. On February 1, 2004, crowded pilgrims trampled one another in Mecca, the holy land of Islam. The accident caused 244 deaths and 244 injuries. Among the Chinese pilgrims, five died and 14 were injured. After the accident, the Chinese Embassy in Saudi Arabia and the Chinese Consulate General in Jeddah promptly took all necessary measures to assist the related authorities of Saudi Arabia in looking for Chinese citizens missing in the stampede, rescue and treat by all possible means the injured people and properly handle matters concerning the victims. It turned out that all the five victims were from Gansu Province.